WALTHAM, Mass. – The 2026 field hockey season gets underway on Sunday for the #9 nationally ranked Bentley Falcons with a home game against Southern New Hampshire. The game gets underway at 12:00 pm.

The 2025 season was an outstanding one for the Falcons. They qualified for the NCAA Tournament and went to double overtime of the Northeast 10 championship game after beating the #1 seed Assumption on the road in the semifinals.

Head coach Jess Spencer, entering her 19^th year, has 24 players back from last season's team, including eight who started at least 17 games and six who started all 22 contests.

Spencer named Avery Frommer, Nicole Hartz, Nina Husak and Isabella Tuccio as team captains.

Last season's leading scorer, All-American Gracie Moore, graduated along with co-second leading goal scorer McKenzie Carey. Junior Madeline Krepelka (10 goals) returns as the leading scorer to a team that averaged 3.09 goals per game in 2025.

Layla Conway, named to the NFHCA Preseason Watchlist and the NE10 third team in 2025, is the next leading returning scorer with eight goals. Sophie Manchester and Lilly Cook had strong freshman years with six and five goals scored, respectively.

Defense was another strong point last season with just 1.68 goals allowed per game (37 in 22 games). Most of the backline returns and that continuity could lend itself to the unit picking up where it left off.

Frommer led all of Division II with 11 defensive saves, which helped earn her both second team All-Region and All-Conference honors. She too was selected to the NFHCA Preseason Watchlist.

In goal, Annie Lorenz started all 22 games in 2025 in her first year as the starter. She ranked fourth in the NE10 in goals against average (1.80). In the NCAA Tournament game at Newberry she made a season-high 11 stops.

Sunday's game is the first of eight straight non-conference games to begin the season. They face another familiar opponent in Saint Anselm on September 9 before a home game against East Stroudsburg next Sunday.

The NE10 portion of the schedule begins on October 3 with a home game against Saint Anselm and the annual Think Pink game. Senior Day is one week later on October 10 against Saint Michael's and the team's Morgan's Message game is on October 27 against Assumption.

The Northeast 10 playoffs are a seven-team field this season, and it gets underway with the first round on November 10. The semifinals are on November 13 and the finals on November 15.